/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.9580145]

What the fuck is the actual best Castlevania game you faggots? Everyone seems to shit on SOTN now, so which one of the Metroidvania titles is better than it?

[Anonymous No.9580151]

Rondo of Blood. End of.
Fuck Metroidvanias

[Anonymous No.9580190]

>>9580145
Castlevania 4 easily and objectively. Also ignore Rondo fags, they're just gay for the bishonen anime cover. Rondo has horrible level design and you can one-shot bosses

[Anonymous No.9580202]

>>9580145
IV is the most accessible and competently crafted for obvious reasons:

>other good/popular games the IV team had a significant impact on (Masahiro Ueno, Mitsuru Yaida, Kazumichi Ishihara, Satoshi Kushibuchi, Akira Soji--Kazumi Kitaue involvement):
>Metal Gear
>Contra series (IV's director)
>Frogger series
>Lethal Enforcers 1 and 2
>Bangai-O
>Guardian Heroes
>Dynamite Headdy
>Gunstar Super Heroes
>Rocket Knight Adventures
>Advance Guardian Heroes
>Astro Boy: Omega Factor
>Silhouette Mirage
>Alien Soldier
>Suikoden V
>Ganbare Goemon Gaiden: Kieta Ogon Kiseru (IV's main designer)
>Gokujo Parodius
>Snatcher
>Grandia III
>Little King's Story
>Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
>Endonesia
>Moon
>UFO
>Paper Mario: The Origami King
>Super Mario RPG
>Gradius Gaiden

>other good/popular games the III team had a significant impact on (Hitoshi Akamatsu, Shinji Kitamoto--no Kazumi Kitaue involvement):
>The Goonies II (the only other game III's director directed)
>Asterix
>Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (music composer)
>Contra I

>other games the Bloodlines team had a significiant impact on (Takeda Takashi, Yasushi Takano--no Kazumi Kitaue involvement):
>Goemon: Shin Sedai Shumei!
>Contra Hard Corps
>Vandal-Hearts I and II
>Rocket Knight Adventures
>Gradius Gaiden (the only other game the main designer designed)

>other games the Rondo of Blood team had a significant impact on (Yoshiaki Yamada, Toru Hagihara--no Kazumi Kitaue involvement)
>The Goonies II
>Metal Slug 5 (the only other game the director [co-]directed)
>yes, that's really kinda it

[Anonymous No.9580209]

Bloodlines

[Anonymous No.9580226]

Best traditional - Rondo of Blood
Best metroidvania - SotN

[Anonymous No.9580269]

>>9580202
I swear IGA played a large role in rondo so shouldn't every igavania be put in the "game made by rondo team"

[Anonymous No.9580270]

Most of them are great, so it's a matter of personal preference.
Usual suspects are CV1, III, IV and Rondo.

[Anonymous No.9580278]

>>9580269
It's obviously besides Castlevania

[Anonymous No.9580283]

Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for PSP

[Anonymous No.9580285]

Rondo is the best. 4 and Bloodlines were Trashure tier

[Anonymous No.9580287]

>>9580145
I think III is the consensus in spite of some painful difficulty spikes in the western release. Everything else has bigger issues.
>1 classic but primitive first incarnation
>IV unbalanced whipping and wonky platforming
>rondo broken item crushes and some meh level design
>bloodlines somewhat weird offshoot with boring boss roster

[Anonymous No.9580296]

>>9580145
>What the fuck is the actual best Castlevania game you faggots?
Why don't YOU decide, you stupid faggot?
Why can't you think for yourself?
Why do you need others' opinions to tell you what the "best" thing is?
Why do you have no metrics of your own to gauge whether you enjoyed a game or not?

Jesus christ, ENOUGH with this shit. Don't post a fucking thread if you don't have anything to say.

[Anonymous No.9580307]

>>9580287
Those aren't "big issues." Those are minor gripes in a collection of masterpieces. There's no general consensus -it's entirely subjective.

[Anonymous No.9580316]

Rondo for 2 key reasons.

[Anonymous No.9580345]

>>9580285
>auster masquerading as a rondofag
Pathetic.

[Anonymous No.9580435]

>>9580145
Rondo or III

[Anonymous No.9580446]

>>9580145
>What the fuck is the actual best Castlevania game
Not retro.

[Anonymous No.9580519]

>>9580190
I never once thought of the appeal of Richter or weighed it in my appraisal of Rondo once you fag-projecting freak.

[Anonymous No.9580549]

Rondo of Ruin. Also who the fuck is actually dogging SOTN that isn't shitposting, schizo, or too young to be taken seriously? I think there are entries that are the among the best at what they set out to do, but the series is just too diversified to consider a single one the best now, and they're all worth playing barring the obviously shitty entries. You know what they are and they aren't bait like 4, Rondo, X, and SOTN. Some of my least favorite personally are the GB series (minus Belmont's Revenge, which is great), 2, Harmony of Dissonance, Judgment, the Lords of Shadow franchise, Haunted Castle, and Vampire Killer. The others are indisputably worth your time.

[Anonymous No.9580551]

>>9580145
Aria of Sorrow is my favorite

[Anonymous No.9580556]

Not a candidate for best at all but Spectral Interlude is at least the best ZX game ever made. High bar, I know.

[Anonymous No.9580563]

Symphony of the Night and the three GBA Castlevanias and the three DS Castlevanias.

They're all my favorite I can't pick just one

[Anonymous No.9580572]

>>9580563
Harmony is so goddamn 'whatever' though. I'll never understand how COTM is bagged by normbrains and Harmony gets a pass despite some of the weakest music of the franchise, pastelovision, and reverse castle but wankier. It's so BORING. Just because it looks a little nicer than COTM and isn't as punishing.

[Anonymous No.9580601]

>>9580226
/thread

[Anonymous No.9580647]

I really enjoyed the castle levels in Resident Evil 4. That game was an excellent castlevania. Age of Empires II also has cool castles. Another fine castlevania

[Anonymous No.9580706]

I've always preferred Castlevania 3. When 4 was announced back in the day I felt let down when they got rid of the Alt. Characters and branching pathways.

[Anonymous No.9581086]

I like Rondo a lot I just wish it was a little harder or had a more difficult second loop or arrange mode, without making it stupid like X (dude spears n holes). Bosses could probably use 150-200% health to really let their movesets threaten you for awhile longer.

[Anonymous No.9581102]

Best Classicvania - III
Best Metroidvania - SotN

[Anonymous No.9581103]

>>9580145
order of ecclessia is the best metroidvania
castlevania 3 is the best of the REAL castlevanias and legacy of darkness and curse of darkness are the best of the 3d castlevanias

[Anonymous No.9581132]

>>9580226
>Best metroidvania - SotN
Okay
>Best traditional - Rondo of Blood
Nah, bad level design
It's 1 or 3 depending on how I'm feeling

[Anonymous No.9581162]

>>9580145
very subjective opinion coming through
metroidvania:
DoS = AoS > SotN > CotM > rest
never played: Harmony because its reputation is that it's just whatever
classicvania:
Dracula X > 1 > Bloodlines > 3
never played: 4 because I strongly dislike Treasure and 8 direction whip, also it looks bad
>>9580202
>Bangai-O
>Dynamite Headdy
>Gunstar Super Heroes
>Astro Boy: Omega Factor
into the trash it goes

[Anonymous No.9581167]

>>9580145
very subjective opinion coming through
metroidvania:
DoS = AoS > SotN > CotM > rest
never played: Harmony because its reputation is that it's just whatever
classicvania:
Dracula X > 1 > Bloodlines > 3
never played: 4 because I strongly dislike Treasure and 8 direction whip, also it looks bad

[Anonymous No.9581269]

>>9580145
All the Metroidvanias except Circle of the Moon are good

For Classicvanias, 1, 3, 2 (GB), and Rondo are the best.

2 (NES), Kid Dracula (GB), Adventure Rebirth, IV, and Bloodlines are good too

[Anonymous No.9581294]

>>9580145
For Classicvania the best are Bloodlines, 3, and 1 in that order.
For Metroidvania it's SotN and every following game is just a shitty ripoff of SotN.
Castlevania HD on the PS3 is okay but really grindy.
But the real kicker is, most Castlevania games suck dick.

[Anonymous No.9581316]

God, I hate Super lV. Its platformvania, all boss are easy, exept maybe last boss rush. You dying from pits and traps only, not from monsters. Dungeon, Clock tower and B2 are awuful, you try and jump, try and jump.

This shit much inferior Rondo and Bloodlines

[Anonymous No.9581374]

Look to the holy trinity:
Rondo
Symphony
Aria

[Anonymous No.9581386]

>>9581167
DoS = AoS? What the fuck are you smoking? DoS is complete dogshit compared to its previous entry.

[Anonymous No.9581412]

>>9580145
Probably Kid Dracula but I still haven't played it yet. Chronicles also looks good. Have yet to play Symphony of the Night as well

[Anonymous No.9581490]

>>9580202
Blessed IV. But OP asked for metroidvania shit

[Anonymous No.9581503]

Rondo of Blood
The "Sorrow" duology does SotN better than SotN.

[Anonymous No.9581518]

>>9581386
All it does worse is the overall art style and OST. Upgrading souls by collecting more of them is great. Better sound quality, lots of features like elemental weaknesses of enemies, lots of cool weapons, etc.

[Anonymous No.9581524]

How many people did she turn into lolicons

[Anonymous No.9581952]

>>9580202
>other games the Bloodlines team had a significiant impact on (Takeda Takashi, Yasushi Takano--no Kazumi Kitaue involvement):
>Vandal-Hearts I and II
>Rocket Knight Adventures
>Gradius Gaiden (the only other game the main designer designed)

Well, I gotta give it to Bloodlines then it sounds like they've made nothing but bangers

[Anonymous No.9581979]

>>9581952
Rocket Knight Adventures is really good.

[Anonymous No.9582001]

>>9581952
Gradius Gaiden is a masterpiece

[Anonymous No.9582231]

>>9580202
Oh great, this insanely cherry-picked thing disproven in the previous thread is becoming a copypasta.

[Anonymous No.9582246]

>>9582231
It'll get laughed out of the threads like the anon who kept insisting that some minor palette-correction in SMB3 SNES was "censorship." Thanks for setting the rest of us who don't like the SNES game back a few decades, asshole.

[Anonymous No.9582378]

>>9580202
4 is good but I prefer 1 for some reason

[Anonymous No.9582441]

>>9580202
4 is alright but no bloodlines

[Anonymous No.9582459]

Who shits on SOTN? It's easy but it's a lot of fun to fuck around with.

[Anonymous No.9582480]

>>9580145
>Fav Classic
Either Japanese 3, or ReBirth.
>Fav Metoidvania
Portrait of Ruin. I love the absurd amount of content it has, and how it doesn't feel as poorly balanced as SotN

[Anonymous No.9583059]

>>9580145
pic related on pcsx2 while toggling fast forward 400%

[Anonymous No.9583106]

>>9582480
>Portrait of Ruin
I never played any of the DS ones until the other day. I tried Dawn, and it seemed like the exact same shit as Aria meaning the exact same shit as sotn, sprites and all. Is Portrait better? I have heard before that there is a lot of content but what exactly does that mean?

[Anonymous No.9583109]

>>9580446
It's the only decent Metroidvania, but it comes nowhere near the classic games

[Anonymous No.9583131]

>>9580145
Circle of the Moon is the worst fucking game I have ever played.

[sage No.9583278]

>>9580145
Aria of Sorrow.

Done.

[Anonymous No.9583302]

>>9583131
So you haven't actually played any bad games then. Lucky you.

[Anonymous No.9583332]

I feel like Castlevania has a lot of good entries, but they all have their own annoyance. SotN is probably the best. 1 is great considering when it came out, but has an insanely inconsistent difficulty curve. 2 is just weird. 3 honestly always struck me as dull. 4 is really accessible, but errs on the side of way too easy. Circle has insanely unbalanced magic and bosses that pretty much require cheesing. Aria has a really boring map. Harmony is phoned in as fuck.

[Anonymous No.9583391]

>>9583106
Not that anon, but I would put it like this:

>Two main characters that are highly differentiated from each other with each having a lot of shit to collect ranging from weapons, subs, magic,head/body/leg gear and accessories with all sorts of different effects lending to different kinds of playstyles
>Three bonus character modes that are more limited in player character scope but nonetheless offer a changed experience that you might even enjoy more than the main chars including Richter and Maria trading their SoTN powerlevels for speed, kinda
>Hard mode with level caps that can turn the game into an intense 2-hits-tops affair
>A lot of different areas even if it is handled differently than usual with a lot of bosses including arguably some of the sickest shit you'll see in the metroidvanias if not Castlevania period
>Also has some fun and occasionally goofy stuff to fuck about with
>Mileage may vary on the story and I personally dislike it for a bunch of stuff but also appreciate it for others, arguably a better attempt than other vanias

Maybe it's just nostalgia since PoR was my first metroidvania, but even after playing all the other ones and appreciating them more and more over the years, PoR is one my favorites out of that line of games and even one my favorites overall.
>I tried Dawn, and it seemed like the exact same shit as Aria meaning the exact same shit as sotn, sprites and all
Uuh, this might be a bit of a damper, but PoR does indeed reuse SoTN's template and also tends to reuse quite a bit of stuff from prior games, including enemy sprites from Dawn, even. That said, as you might guess from the above points and >>9582480, I would say that PoR handles that stuff better when it comes to gameplay and game design. A refinement rather than something totally new, and unless you're that tired out on it all after playing those three, I'd like to think you could still in fact enjoy it more than those despite that.

[Anonymous No.9583418]

>>9583391
I think most people recognize portrait as arguably having more refined gameplay than prior igavanias, it just gotten so far into the anime wilderness at that point that people tuned it out.

[Anonymous No.9583504]

>>9580202
>Paper Mario: The Origami King
I get where you're coming from but it's still nu-Paper Mario

[Anonymous No.9583540]

>>9580145
Played this back in the days when I exchanged a game for this from a school friend and I deeply hated

[Anonymous No.9583569]

>>9583059
Cool story sister, wanna show it?

[Anonymous No.9583652]

>>9583418
>>9583391
>>9583106
>>9582480
I like Portrait because Charlotte is a super cutie

[Anonymous No.9583741]

>>9583652
For me, it's PoR's take on Medusa. All she needs is her presumably damn fine legs and maybe a manicure and I'd have no issues.
>embrace the snake tail, coward
No.

[Anonymous No.9583948]

All the Igavania games are good in their own ways.

SOTN is easy but it's still the most audiovisually lavish and atmospheric, and has a metric fuckton of fun shit to play with.

COTM feels like Richter mode on steroids. It's got some quirks to it but it's got some of the most engaging challenges of the series with some enemies that start to feel more like shmup bosses.

HOD is probably the weakest by far. I like its art-direction in parts and some of the spells are cool and punchy, but easier than sotn and also has a lot of jank and annoying shit.

Aria has a cool plot twist and is a return to form after HOD, but I feel it's not standout in any one area besides that.

Dawn I think has better music, bosses, and overall presentation of Aria even if it's somewhat of a retread of that game.

Portrait is interesting. More experimental than Dawn with more varied art design thanks to the portraits. I don't remember if I'd call it harder than Dawn, maybe a bit more uneven? But its highs are high.

Ecclesia had an ex contra guy on staff and I think it shows. Easily the most combat focused game. I think the combat is fun enough even if the level design isn't up to snuff, and the later parts of the game are extremely strong. Like Portrait it has some low lows and some very high highs.

That's my opinion on all of them.

[Anonymous No.9583960]

>>9580145
1 and 3 are the overall best Castlevania games
SotN is the best non-linear CV

[Anonymous No.9583965]

>>9583960
>SotN is the best non-linear CV
>inverted castle

[Anonymous No.9584036]

The colour version of this game makes the secret passages much easier to find.

[Anonymous No.9584145]

>>9584036
there is no reason they had to make the walkspeed that fucking slow, castlevania 1 wasn't sonic, it wouldn't be a technical feat to achieve a brisk speedwalk on the gameboy.

[Anonymous No.9584194]

>>9584145
they just didnt know what they were doing. kind of like how the first mario brothers game for gameboy had the same relative character size ratio as the console version of mario bros, which is way too small for a console screen.

they were probably trying too hard to mimic the character speed on the console version

[Anonymous No.9584203]

>>9584036
they just didnt know what they were doing. kind of like how the first mario brothers game for gameboy had the same relative character size ratio as the console version of mario bros, which is way too small for a handheld screen.

they were probably trying too hard to mimic the character speed on the console version

[Anonymous No.9584228]

>>9580145
"which game is the best in this series with over 20 entries, most of which play completely differently from each other!!!"

[Anonymous No.9585170]

>>9583948
>HOD is probably the weakest by far
HoD gave us proper, actual dash cancelling with full-force slides and dive kicks, which at least for me is really fun to utilize.
>but easier than sotn
Not that it really matters since, well, yeah, they're both easy games, but I honestly do find SoTN easier. I'm doing a short sword only run even now and that still manages to be easier than Hard Mode HoD without equipment and spells, where enemies in a new area can actually two-shot you.

[Anonymous No.9585173]

>>9584036
>there's a scret on that last climb of level 3
Thanks, anon.

[Anonymous No.9585214]

Like difficult classicvania? 3 or bloodlines.
Like easy classicvania? 4 or Rondo.
Like easy Metroidvania? Symphony or Aria.
Like Hard Metroidvania? Circle of the moon or order of ecclesia.

[Anonymous No.9585220]

Metroidvanias
SotN>PoR>OoE>DoS>AoS>CoM>HoD
Castlevanias
3>Bloodlines>Rondo>4>1
3D Vanias
LoI>CoD>Wolfman>Spicvania>64

[Anonymous No.9585230]

>>9581386
Fuck no.
AoS map, enemy design and weapon design is weak as fuck.
Dos removes redundant souls, adds way better weapon variety, enemies with mora than a single fucking attack and different behaviors (even if is still kind of palette swapping), has a more unique map (unlike AoS which has too many worthless rooms with nothing but pots as findables).
>BUT MUH PORTRAITS

[Anonymous No.9585237]

>>9584145
I noticed how slow everything goes when playing the gameboy mega man and donkey Kong games too. I don't think it was a technical limitation, but instead a misguided attempt to compensate for screen crunch. "The screen is only 3/4 as wide as a console game, better slow the game down to 3/4 speed so the player has the same time to react!

[Anonymous No.9585419]

playing CotM, what a mess of game, if they balanced the card system drop and the items it would be cool.
most bosses you just fuck his ass raw with the cross and with this comes the farming for hearts, the whip is so fuckin weak that its just ridiculous, one well placed cross boomerang deals like 10 whip hits of damage.

[Anonymous No.9585975]

>>9580145
Best is subjective. Grow up and use your brain.

[Anonymous No.9586272]

>>9585419
play the card hack.

[Anonymous No.9586367]

>>9586272
the card hack is kind of stupid, for no reason at all the guy decides to give you essentially an unlimited supply of meat drops. put something like that in a separate difficulty patch.

[Anonymous No.9586445]

what makes rondo's level design "bad" exactly?

[Anonymous No.9586980]

>>9585170
>Dash cancelling

I'll give you the forward and backwards dash are a nice touch (though it always felt odd jumps don't retain the momentum, giving it the slightest janky feeling), but what cancelling? Pretty sure you can't do much in the way of actually cancelling attacks or any other relevant manuevers into it early.

>Not that it really matters since, well, yeah, they're both easy games

For me the deal breaker is the punching bag bosses. SOTN might be easy but at least the bosses actually like, toss a few fireballs or whatever at you. Bosses in HoD in comparison feel like they're literally just stand around like punching bags waiting for you to flog them to death. It's really telling that even going into the boss rush mode in Simon mode with his OG Classicvania moveset and jump physics, and the bosses still barely put up a fight.

[Anonymous No.9587006]

>>9585419
Pro-tip: Use the card combination for the Rose Sword as soon as you can, it's really good. Save that heart ammunition for the bosses and gauntlet rooms full of annoying/damage sponge enemies, you know, the ones where you're hoping for a HP max at the end only to get MP max and then you have to careful tread back to a save point with low hp.

[Anonymous No.9587015]

>>9581269
>All the Metroidvanias except Circle of the Moon are good
Filtered

[Anonymous No.9587508]

>>9586980
>Pretty sure you can't do much in the way of actually cancelling attacks or any other relevant manuevers into it early
You kidding? It's one of my favorite things about HoD and the later games in general. dashing lets you interrupt attacks and even dive kick landings. I do kinda agree about the jumping, though, momentum would be nice. I'd say something about how it balances Juste out that his air game sucks, but like, what's the point by then?
>For me the deal breaker is the punching bag bosses. SOTN might be easy but at least the bosses actually like, toss a few fireballs or whatever at you.
Thius is basically me but like in the other direction, though that sort of depends on how you play SoTN. Use weak shit like short sword, and yeah, SoTN's bosses actually get to, you know, do something. Otherwise, they just melt. HoD bosses at least get the chance to punch you regardless, and "standing around like punching bags" wouldn't be an accurate descriptor of all of them, not that it's lost on me that you have a point about ones like the big sword armor and Peeping Big.

[Anonymous No.9587536]

>>9586367
>I am not moving the goal post
>BECAUSE I AM NOT ALRIGHT!

[Anonymous No.9587547]

>>9587508
Actually, in fact, thinking on it more, while I think I get what you mean about SoTN's bosses getting to attack more and not just letting you wallop them, I don't fully agree with that, nor do I agree that this makes them harder by default. A good handful of them do indeed practically stand there and take it like Medusa and the mummy, and others like Malphas(?) take a hit and get stunlocked to death. Not all of them fall into these categories, you got think the hippogryph (sp) and Orlox, Scylla, Richter's a motherfucker if you don't bamboozle his AI with distanced jump attacks, but some of those have a counterpart in HoD, sometimes with their own advantages, and a good deal of HoD's bosses have a gimmick that prevents you from indeed just standing there and flogging them to death.

Not only that, but even the ones that let you get hits on them are, in fact, still moving around, such that staying put will actually get you whapped around, and they all have the resilience to outlast you. Yeah, boss rush has a secret Simon mode, and you can totally get through it unscathed, even, but that requires actually getting good and paying attention to their nuances, and you'll just flat out not make it as Simon or really even Juste or Maxim if you don't.

That isn't all to say that hurr durr HoD is actually le hard, and really, HoD's bosses aren't exactly the same or anything as SoTN's, so I think one can absolutely have preferences to which group you'd like to fight, but I honestly think saying that HoD's are just plain damn easier than SoTN's is wrong.

[Anonymous No.9587556]

>>9580145
>Everyone seems to shit on SOTN now

It's one of those weird phases of contrarianism that happen in fan bases for no reason. It's kinda like Sonic CD; One day it's the best classic Sonic game ever, the next day it's the worst and most overrated game, only to be the best classic game again not long after. The same thing happens with SOTN.

[Anonymous No.9588412]

>>9585419
There's also that major glitch of selecting any card combo you want as soon as you get the first two. You just press the activation button, then pause and switch to any of the blank cards before the animation stops. You can cheese every boss with the last two on the right that transforms into the skeleton.

[Anonymous No.9588867]

>>9580145
The games are short enough for you to play them for yourself and find out. You'll never get a straight answer on this fucking board of all places.

[Anonymous No.9589034]

What path through CV3 is the best?

[Anonymous No.9589039]

>>9580151
based

[Anonymous No.9589064]

>>9581316
You will never be a woman

[Anonymous No.9589568]

>>9583741
Were the petrified soldiers she kills at the start allied or Nazis?

[Anonymous No.9589578]

>>9580145

[Anonymous No.9591054]

>>9589568
I'm no expert on that sort of thing and I can't quite get a good enough read on the pixels in that sheet anyway.

Since we're on the subject, though, while I get that it probably would have gotten in the way of the story that Iga wanted to tell, I do think it rather silly that this is all we see of other people even though it's WW2. I don't know if it'd be historically accurate or anything, but secret history bullshit isn't new to Castlevania and you'd think at least one group would be involved. Kind of feel like we don't get many references to the time and place in general unless you squint.

[Anonymous No.9591483]

>>9584203
>the first mario brothers game for gameboy had the same relative character size ratio as the console version of mario bros, which is way too small for a handheld screen.
No it wasn't. That sprite is the perfect size, but it's easier to sell games with big detailed retarded sprites with outlines